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Falcons were lucky to land QB Ryan

2008 No. 3 overall pick faces off with Broncos on Monday

By Jeff Legwold The Denver Post

Posted:
09/15/2012 11:25:42 PM MDT

Updated:
09/15/2012 11:26:18 PM MDT

ENGLEWOOD -- Sitting in the middle of the workaday world of Atlanta Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff, tucked in with an avalanche of papers that routinely slide across his desk, is a presentation box with a large silver coin inside.

A gift from team owner Arthur Blank, there is a small plaque affixed to it that simply reads "the winning coin." It is a reminder of how, in an instant, fortunes change. How a spin of a coin, a 50-50 chance, and one little word put the future of the Falcons at the intersection of good fortune and necessity. When they, like all other NFL franchises, needed a franchise quarterback to lead them, and hoped fortune smiled upon them.

"I give consideration to the coin flip virtually every day of my career," Dimitroff said. "If not for that flip and me calling tails, we would be in a very different situation as a franchise. But that's not because I flipped well or necessarily knew what to do. There is an element of faith there, and we all have to remember that. That's the reason it's on my desk, to remind me of that."

That coin flip in the winter of 2008 led to Dimitroff selecting quarterback Matt Ryan as the No. 3 overall pick in the NFL draft, a move that transformed the organization. The draft is seven rounds worth of opportunity. But scan the list of starting quarterbacks in the NFL and you see a cold, hard reality about the search for the uber passers. Namely, if you can't find one early, you may not get one at all.

Twenty-three of the league's 32 starters (71.

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9 percent) last weekend were first-round draft picks, and nine of the starters were the draft's No. 1 pick overall, including the Broncos' Peyton Manning (class of 1998).

And while NFL personnel executives consistently talk about the importance of working the back end of the draft and of finding late-round gems, quarterbacks are rarely unearthed there. At least not quarterbacks who become franchise players. Just four of this year's opening-day starters were selected in the sixth round or beyond, including a future Hall of Famer, the Patriots' Tom Brady. Just one, Dallas' Tony Romo, went undrafted."It's far and away the most important position when you're building a team," Broncos executive vice president of football operations John Elway said. "That means you're going to have to use those premium picks to get one. And that's the thing: You don't want to be picking that high, but you might have to, just to get the guy who keeps you from picking that high."

"When you identify a quarterback and you're picking at the top of the draft and there's a quarterback available, I think you've got to go get him if you think he's going to be your guy, because hopefully you're not picking in that position very often," Falcons coach Mike Smith said. "It'll be a long time before you're picking in that position again if you make the right decision at the quarterback position."

Need doesn't

surpass talent

It can be rare when all the planets align to get that player. In a league in which losing gets people fired, losing and losing big may be the safest bet to secure what is considered the most important piece of the pro football puzzle.

In the 2011 draft, coming off a 4-12 season that saw Josh McDaniels fired by the Broncos -- and Elway and John Fox hired to right the franchise -- the Broncos had their shot. The team sat at No. 2, the highest pick in franchise history, but after quarterback Cam Newton was selected by the Panthers with the No. 1 pick, the Broncos didn't see a passer to match the pick.

Instead of pushing a player too far up the draft board to fill an enormous need, their choice was linebacker Von Miller. And Miller went on to be named the league's defensive rookie of the year.

The Broncos couldn't draft the quarterback they wanted, so they had to buy one last March, securing the most accomplished player ever to reach the free-agent market: Manning. They then came back shortly afterward in the draft to use a second-round pick on the guy Elway has said has all of the traits he's looking for in an impact starter behind center -- Brock Osweiler.

"I don't think there's ever been a guy like Peyton in free agency," Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey said. "He changes everything with the team. He's been there, done everything. He's what every player wants to be around, because you have a chance to be special. Now (Osweiler) gets to learn from the best, and the team probably feels like they have things in place for a long time."

For the Falcons, a franchise that had never made playoff appearances in back-to-back seasons before Dimitroff, Smith and Ryan arrived, they've now made the postseason three of the past four years. That football resurrection came down to a flip of that silver coin at the 2008 NFL scouting combine.

The Falcons, Chiefs and Raiders finished the 2007 season 4-12. After working through the tiebreakers, the Chiefs and Falcons needed a coin flip to see who would get the No. 3 pick, following the Dolphins and Rams.

Heads, you lose. Tails, you change everything.

"Things have to be going your way and fate has to be on your side," said Dimitroff, who correctly called tails.

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